Why Is The First Amendment Important?
Freedom of Speech, Religion, and to Petition
The First Amendment
Brenda Zarate
9/18/14
Brenda Zarate
U.S History
September 18, 2014
Period 4 There are 10 amendments in our bill of rights; they all serve for important purposes, but The first amendment; I’m going to discuss are freedom of speech, right to bear arms, limits power of the federal government, protects rights not enumerated in the constitution, protects prohibited bail excess, right to trial by jury, right to due process, prohibits forced quartering of soldiers, and prohibits unreasonable searches without warrant. These 10 amendments are what make the constitution work today. The first amendment is the Freedom of religion, speech, and press which protects the right of assembles …show more content…
that was ratified in December of 1791. Back then, people had to like a certain religion in order to live somewhere. People couldn’t speak their opinion because they would get punished. People weren’t able to publish magazines, newspapers, or printed material without the governments concern. The congress couldn’t make a law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise of the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to assemble, and to petition the government to equalize of grievance. The first amendment gave people the right to publish without the governments concern. The first amendment aids people to express their thought and beliefs freely. It allows the citizens to believe in any religion they please. Without this amendment, the government would have the power to establish a religion for the nation.
The first amendment was created because the founding fathers believed that the people’s rights would not be threatened by the government. They wanted to ensure that religious freedom would be protected. Also, the first amendment was made to make sure the separation of church and state. They didn’t want the state to force a religion on citizens. The king of England rejected and ignored most of the protests and petitions of the citizens and tried to smother oppositional ideas to their rule. The colonist protested for a change in the taxes and also other laws. The Founding Fathers made the first amendment to make sure those citizens had the right to protest when things aren’t going as planned. The main purpose of this being ratified is because the Founding Fathers believed that people should have their basic rights or freedoms. People need these basic rights because those are the rights people are born with. Everyone in this world has ideas in which should be heard. The FF (Founding Fathers) wanted to ensure that religious freedom is established and protected.
Freedom of speech is used today for the same reason, to ensure religious freedom and protect it. Today, the need to sustain and expand our forefathers’ experiment in liberty is more urgent because of the challenge of living with our deepest differences in a different and difficult society. The need to commit to these rights and responsibilities from the First Amendment has never been more serious, or more difficult. The ignorance and debate now surrounding the First Amendment threaten to divide the nation and weaken our freedom. Our freedom allows us to say what we believe without getting punished. Many people have ideas that deserve to be heard, you never know, it might change the world. This is important today because this affects all Americans on a daily basis. Most people don’t recognize it but it is used at least once daily.
Many problems are occurring in the United Stated today regarding the first amendment. Universities are punishing students for foul language. They are forcing students to pay $25 for the first accusation and $50 for the second. Many could argue about this topic; however I believe that this is against the first amendment. We have the right to say whatever we please. There’s another situation regarding court, there’s a man that killed animals in his basement. He testified and said that he did it because of his religion. Also there was a situation where people would get in trouble when getting into business or for putting things on the newspaper that wasn’t the governments concern. I don’t believe that this is fair because people have their opinions on everything and us as a nation need to respect people’s opinions and everybody should be able to express their thoughts, you never know, people might like their thoughts. They say pictures are worth a thousand words, well how about ideas? Shouldn’t they be worth more? People come up with infinite ideas every day and I believe that they should be able to share them.
In my opinion, I believe that the first amendment is necessary because there is many ways people could get in trouble doing these things.
Also, I believe that people should be heard, it is necessary to separate the people differently, because there could be religious wars. Many believe that the best ways to solve this problem was to have the freedom to say whatever they wish to say. Religious wars would break out because people would like to choose their religion. Freedom of the press is important also because people would like to know what was going on in the world. The freedom of the press is important because we will be able to know things that we didn’t know before. The founding fathers made it clear that we have the right to say whatever we want and believe in any religion we would like to believe in. This is a good amendment because everyone has their opinions about things and it’s not right to take that privilege of choosing their religion away. The most important to me, as a catholic, is god and I believe that if I weren’t able to choose my religion, I wouldn’t be happy. Many could argue with me but this is my opinion, and I believe that this is a good amendment. In my opinion, people should separate themselves with people because they would start many religious wars. These wars are unnecessary because people should be able to choose who they want to worship, who they want to believe in. This right is a ticket to freedom and will help our society in many different ways. We say things today that people used to say and we don’t get in trouble, this is a start but we have a long way to go, people are still getting punished for things they say or things they put on the internet, however, it is the beginning to a new stage in our nation. Our society has changed, for the better and for the worst, but our society is preparing for the perfect
world.
To conclude, the first amendment is the freedom to petition, religion and freedom of speech. There are many amendments but the freedom of religion is one of the most important ones. All ideas deserve to be heard and that’s what the Founding Fathers were striving to get to. The U.S as a nation has come through many obstacles to get to this position; however it is a better place to be.
Works Cited
1forAll. n.d. 22 September 2013 <http://1forall.us/about/the-first-amendment/#a5>.
First Amendment Center. n.d. 22 September 2013 <http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/about-the-first-amendment>.
FirstClass. n.d. 22 September 2013 <http://firstclass.rfsd.k12.co.us/~mschneiter/fad/amendment_one_created.htm>.
Michigen Press. n.d. 22 September 2013 <http://www.michiganpress.org/Portals/3/pdfs/1stamendment.pdf>.
Religious Tolerence. n.d. 22 September 2013 <http://www.religioustolerance.org/amend_1.htm#>.
The First Amendment
Brenda Zarate
9/18/14
Brenda Zarate
U.S History
September 18, 2014
Period 4 There are 10 amendments in our bill of rights; they all serve for important purposes, but The first amendment; I’m going to discuss are freedom of speech, right to bear arms, limits power of the federal government, protects rights not enumerated in the constitution, protects prohibited bail excess, right to trial by jury, right to due process, prohibits forced quartering of soldiers, and prohibits unreasonable searches without warrant. These 10 amendments are what make the constitution work today. The first amendment is the Freedom of religion, speech, and press which protects the right of assembles …show more content…
that was ratified in December of 1791. Back then, people had to like a certain religion in order to live somewhere. People couldn’t speak their opinion because they would get punished. People weren’t able to publish magazines, newspapers, or printed material without the governments concern. The congress couldn’t make a law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise of the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to assemble, and to petition the government to equalize of grievance. The first amendment gave people the right to publish without the governments concern. The first amendment aids people to express their thought and beliefs freely. It allows the citizens to believe in any religion they please. Without this amendment, the government would have the power to establish a religion for the nation.
The first amendment was created because the founding fathers believed that the people’s rights would not be threatened by the government. They wanted to ensure that religious freedom would be protected. Also, the first amendment was made to make sure the separation of church and state. They didn’t want the state to force a religion on citizens. The king of England rejected and ignored most of the protests and petitions of the citizens and tried to smother oppositional ideas to their rule. The colonist protested for a change in the taxes and also other laws. The Founding Fathers made the first amendment to make sure those citizens had the right to protest when things aren’t going as planned. The main purpose of this being ratified is because the Founding Fathers believed that people should have their basic rights or freedoms. People need these basic rights because those are the rights people are born with. Everyone in this world has ideas in which should be heard. The FF (Founding Fathers) wanted to ensure that religious freedom is established and protected.
Freedom of speech is used today for the same reason, to ensure religious freedom and protect it. Today, the need to sustain and expand our forefathers’ experiment in liberty is more urgent because of the challenge of living with our deepest differences in a different and difficult society. The need to commit to these rights and responsibilities from the First Amendment has never been more serious, or more difficult. The ignorance and debate now surrounding the First Amendment threaten to divide the nation and weaken our freedom. Our freedom allows us to say what we believe without getting punished. Many people have ideas that deserve to be heard, you never know, it might change the world. This is important today because this affects all Americans on a daily basis. Most people don’t recognize it but it is used at least once daily.
Many problems are occurring in the United Stated today regarding the first amendment. Universities are punishing students for foul language. They are forcing students to pay $25 for the first accusation and $50 for the second. Many could argue about this topic; however I believe that this is against the first amendment. We have the right to say whatever we please. There’s another situation regarding court, there’s a man that killed animals in his basement. He testified and said that he did it because of his religion. Also there was a situation where people would get in trouble when getting into business or for putting things on the newspaper that wasn’t the governments concern. I don’t believe that this is fair because people have their opinions on everything and us as a nation need to respect people’s opinions and everybody should be able to express their thoughts, you never know, people might like their thoughts. They say pictures are worth a thousand words, well how about ideas? Shouldn’t they be worth more? People come up with infinite ideas every day and I believe that they should be able to share them.
In my opinion, I believe that the first amendment is necessary because there is many ways people could get in trouble doing these things.
Also, I believe that people should be heard, it is necessary to separate the people differently, because there could be religious wars. Many believe that the best ways to solve this problem was to have the freedom to say whatever they wish to say. Religious wars would break out because people would like to choose their religion. Freedom of the press is important also because people would like to know what was going on in the world. The freedom of the press is important because we will be able to know things that we didn’t know before. The founding fathers made it clear that we have the right to say whatever we want and believe in any religion we would like to believe in. This is a good amendment because everyone has their opinions about things and it’s not right to take that privilege of choosing their religion away. The most important to me, as a catholic, is god and I believe that if I weren’t able to choose my religion, I wouldn’t be happy. Many could argue with me but this is my opinion, and I believe that this is a good amendment. In my opinion, people should separate themselves with people because they would start many religious wars. These wars are unnecessary because people should be able to choose who they want to worship, who they want to believe in. This right is a ticket to freedom and will help our society in many different ways. We say things today that people used to say and we don’t get in trouble, this is a start but we have a long way to go, people are still getting punished for things they say or things they put on the internet, however, it is the beginning to a new stage in our nation. Our society has changed, for the better and for the worst, but our society is preparing for the perfect
world.
To conclude, the first amendment is the freedom to petition, religion and freedom of speech. There are many amendments but the freedom of religion is one of the most important ones. All ideas deserve to be heard and that’s what the Founding Fathers were striving to get to. The U.S as a nation has come through many obstacles to get to this position; however it is a better place to be.
Works Cited
1forAll. n.d. 22 September 2013 <http://1forall.us/about/the-first-amendment/#a5>.
First Amendment Center. n.d. 22 September 2013 <http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/about-the-first-amendment>.
FirstClass. n.d. 22 September 2013 <http://firstclass.rfsd.k12.co.us/~mschneiter/fad/amendment_one_created.htm>.
Michigen Press. n.d. 22 September 2013 <http://www.michiganpress.org/Portals/3/pdfs/1stamendment.pdf>.
Religious Tolerence. n.d. 22 September 2013 <http://www.religioustolerance.org/amend_1.htm#>.